MARIETTA — Nearly four decades after Wills High School graduate Steve Richardson and a friend died of drug overdoses at a party on Lake Allatoona, his class ring was returned to his family.Richardson, a 19-year-old carpenter, died along with his friend Steve Byers on Aug. 19, 1978, after the two drank a lethal cocktail of Gatorade and MDA, an amphetamine-based psychedelic, at a house party along Kellogg Creek in Cherokee County, the MDJ reported at the time.Family members described Richardson as hard-working and playful, a strapping young man who stood about six-foot-five and exceled as a marksman in Wills' ROTC program. But they never found the class ring he always wore, the one engraved with his initials and set with a deep blue stone. Until now."I'd completely given up on it," said Donna Smith, Richardson's sister who now lives in Alpharetta.
Class ring returned after four decades
Missing since owner died in overdose


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